Birth Trauma, Obstetric Violence and Contemporary Australian Childbirth and Maternity Care

Research, discourse and debates surrounding contemporary childbirth, within and beyond Australia, have explained, justified and critiqued global patterns of increasing intervention rates from various theoretical perspectives. In recent years, Australian media and public discourse has acknowledged and documented women’s experiences of birth trauma, a term denoting ongoing trauma at psychological and/or physical levels following childbirth. Currently, approximately 1 in 3 Australian mothers report experiencing birth trauma. The inextricability of these issues is indicated by research substantiating a relationship between receipt of obstetric intervention and subsequent birth trauma and by research illustrating that informed consent is frequently compromised or even absent in clinical practice surrounding interventions. My dissertational research investigates contemporary Australian childbirth practices and experiences through a lens of obstetric violence, focussing on these interlinked phenomena. Obstetric violence extends analyses of gendered violence, especially sexual violence, to maternity care, critiquing how societal devaluation of women has shaped certain obstetric norms, practices and philosophies that may harm women. In this presentation, I draw on semi-structured interviews with women who have experienced birth trauma, and with midwives and obstetricians about contemporary childbirth and maternity care, which inform my dissertation. I present empirical data on birth trauma and obstetric violence in Australia and explore the conceptual framework’s capacity to theorise both the routine use of obstetric interventions, and birth trauma, particularly by extrapolating the parallels between obstetric and sexual violence concentrated within processes of normalisation, silencing and shame. This research contributes to understanding the experiences, meanings and implications of birth trauma on individuals and families and how obstetric violence is perpetuated through a complex interplay of interpersonal, structural and cultural dynamics.